Sword Art Online
by I'm Waiting For The Rain
Summary: 2022 was the year, a new video game called Sword Art Online has just been released. The latest technology allows a player to be "literally in the game". As a Beta tester and mostly solo player Kanda, re-enters the game. He soon meets Allen, who is a newbie, at a meeting which was set up to find the first floor's boss. A hundred floors, monsters, death, and love? SAO Yullen au.
**A/N:** _ **So most of this has been from the Manga, but it will be a clash between the two.**_

 _ **Grammatical Errors?: Because they're what I'm here for.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Katsura Hoshino is me.**_

* * *

'' _I've wondered all my life, relying on a whim and that has led me astray.''_

― _Amanda Lee (Sword Art Online: Crossing Field cover)._

* * *

 **XXX**

Turning on the computer's monitor in a swift motion, the male then sat down in his chair with a magazine in his hands. He already had his headphones atop his head, blasting what seemed to be a woman's loud voice―his volume was probably all the way up, but he didn't care. He was paying attention to both the magazine and the video. He was surrounded by two other monitors―the one that was showing the video being in the middle and one on each of it's sides. The first time he opened the magazine he had carelessly flipped through it, quickly, as if to see if anything would catch his eye. Nothing. Even as he neared the last few pages nothing had tried to appeal to him. That was the way he was though. He didn't know what he was really capable of anymore. The two idiots he hung out with were literally forcing this onto him―especially that Lenalee. She always had a habit of dragging him into something he deemed unnecessary. But once he heard it was a game, his expression had changed a bit. His view on her changed, as well. Lavi on the other hand was just a damn handful. Always jumping into things without thinking even though he already had strategies planned out in his head. He rarely ever told anyone about them unless they were serious. As he closed the magazine a sigh erupted from his mouth. The high-schooler returned his attention to the first monitor which had been posted on Facebook not long ago―probably minutes ago. The comments automatically scrolled down as new comments appeared at the top, the page would occasionally scroll back up to show the newest comments that had been sent out. Most of them were about how people wished they could have been one of the lucky people to win one of the ten thousand copies that were sent out. Lavi and Lenalee were two of those ten thousand. He on the other hand had bought everything before the game had been officially launched. Beta testing wasn't so bad. Alpha testing would've been better though.

Once he realized he had been spacing out he planned to focus on the video now that it had automatically replayed itself. The woman's voice seemed to be annoying him like it had been rewound millions of times.

'' _It's time for this week's MMO stream! We began with a promotional video. Was this the day of last week's launch? What were all these people waiting in line for? Sword Art Online! The one at the front of the line waited three days prior to launch. Amazing!''_

He reopened the catalog to flip through a few pages of it. It was a catalog of the newest game that had been launched by the Millennium co. The biggest VRMMO workers who were known best for making extraordinary games with dungeons that blew people's minds away because of such detail. He stopped on a page that advertised a picture of one of the main producers. The page read: Sword Art Online Project director, Tyki Mikk. It had a picture of the Portuguese male in a white lab coat, black pants, tie, and a white dress shirt to match the lab coat. The picture was plain. In the background there was a black office chair that seemed as comfortable as the chair that he was currently sitting within. The blinds were closed and a dark brown with nothing but a laptop residing upon it stood behind him. He happened to be blocking the view of the laptop with his own body so he could not tell what type it was.

'' _Or is this just what any real gamer would do? On today's MMO stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Sword Art Online, aka: SAO!''_

The blue haired male flipped through a few more pages of the catalog with his comfortable gray headphones that sat atop his head. He wore a gray sweatshirt along with black sweatpants, not planning on going anywhere. The computer on his right consisted of a plain black screen with blue and white words on it, talking about what people expected of Sword Art Online since it was the first launched Virtual Reality game that people could dive fully into without any problems. The one on the left had a blue screen with clouds on it that were dotted everywhere. It wasn't doing anything so he turned that on off along with the one on the right. Three videos were playing before he had turned two of them off, but he wasn't paying much attention to the other two other than the woman speaking on the middle monitor. The teenager continued listening to the woman speaking, flipping through more of the pages without a care in the world for what they all talked about.

'' _To be honest, none of the NerveGear software released so far has really taken advantage of the hardware.''_

The bluenette felt a sting in his right thumb which he turned over to show blood quickly making it's appearance. He hadn't even flinched. He just stared down at the paper cut he had obtained through vigorous flipping through the book. His head turned towards his door which was closed. A soft voice spoke from the other side of the door.

''Brother,'' it said.

Now he was fully looking over his shoulder to listen to his sister's heavy footsteps which were quickly approaching his door. He knew she would not open his door without his permission. She stopped outside his door, panting. He could hear the occasional crunch of her munching on toast that consisted of butter and jelly. She had probably finished one third of her toast before she continued what she planned on telling him.

''I'm off to practice!'' She then rushed the way she had come. He could just see her small legs carrying her down the hallway, down the stairs, and to the door that lay on the left side of the stairs―well on the left side when you're going down the stairs. When you were downstairs staring at the door it was on the right side.

'' _...Tyki Mikk, and his long awaited VR MMORPG. I can't wait!"_

The male stood up from his spot, and shuffled closer to the window that gave him a view of their neighborhood. He could already see his sister running to the school's dojo to practice with a few friends. She claimed that she did it to keep her skills sharp, but both he and her knew that was a complete lie. His grandfather had forced him into taking on the sword of the samurai as a kid. Whenever he made one wrong move his grandfather would add more time to his practices. It got to the point of him quitting within a fury of flaming anger. He had stormed out, growling. And never looked back at his grandfather after that. His sister had supposedly taken on the task of her brother's practicing and soon reached the finals. She soon came out as one of the top five to win. This year she said everything would be different and how she'd win the tournaments. After his breakdown he distanced himself from his family. Once the Nerve Gear had been released he watched as the gap between him and his family deepened like the grand canyon.

'' _The beta testers all said it was incredible. I wanted a copy… Only ten thousand copies were sold in it's first printing. It sold out online in seconds.''_

He turned off the last computer's monitor and removed the headphones from his head before setting everything up for his 'full dive' experience into the game again. He glanced over his shoulder at the digital clock that stood on a stand by itself. Nothing else was there to keep it company. That clock reminded him of himself. Of how he was alone on his own.

2022/11/06 Sun 12:55:58

2022/11/06 Sun 12:55:59

2022/11/06 Sun 12:56:00

His footsteps were a bit softer than his loud, energetic sister's as he made his way to his bed, placing the Nerve Gear over his head before fully laying himself out on the bed. He listened in complete silence as the Nerve Gear powered up. The time appeared on the left side of his vision while the battery appeared on the right side. He then closed his sky-blue eyes before speaking out: ''Link start'' with no enthusiasm whatsoever. What was the point in being enthusiastic when everything was actually a huge, fat lie―fake. Different colored pixels appeared before him until he reached the main login screen. The screen asked him if his taste, hearing, smell, sight, and feeling were all working correctly. That was how it was supposed to be if you wanted to enter the game. If something wasn't working it'd most likely try to fix that problem by sending waves to your brain, activating whatever it was that is to be needed in order to continue playing. He selected his language as Japanese, but just as he did that his beta character had popped up. It was asking if he'd like to use his beta testing character rather than remaking his character once again. Rather than hesitating he quickly selected it. Six black words appeared before him. Although they were meant to be welcoming he felt something different resonating from the words but ignored it.

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

The words flashed a few times before disappearing into pixels―something he'd soon get used to seeing all the time. It was also something he'd soon experience―within time, that is.

He was soon teleported to the first and lowest town of them all. He had been teleported in a mixture of royal blue, electric blue, bright teal, and white light until he could physically see were shards all around him. The bluenette blinked a few times to clear his blurry vision before fully opening his eyes, meet with the light of the virtual world. There were at least four pillars with two on each side. The ground was colored with dark grey and light grey blocks. He looked at the ground to see two brown boots. They were both light brown and had stripe with a darker shade of brown over the top of the boot. The male moved his arms to stare at his hands which were covered with dusty brown gloves, but they left part of his fingers uncovered. He morphed his hand into a fist. He, just like everyone else, had obtained low leveling equipment. It wasn't bad, but he'd have to work his way up if he ever wanted to clear/help clear the game. As soon as he had arrived, the bluenette began running around in search of getting to the next town before everyone else. He knew that the other people would also level up on anything in the vicinity as much as they can so _they_ could possibly clear the game. He didn't want that happening. He wanted to be the first to get out.

He saw many trading places, weapons, armor, and many other types of merchants who were doing their best to make their belongings look appealing to certain people.

'' _Yu-chan!''_

The voice that had called out his real name stopped him dead in his tracks before he whirled around and slammed his foot into the said person's gut. Well that was the plan anyway, but his kick was blocked by a black haired woman's.

''Well if it isn't Lenalee and the Usagi,'' he seethed, wishing that she'd let him slam his foot into the stupidly energetic idiot's stomach―the person who was now standing behind her, grinning like the stupidly smart idiot he was.

''Kanda learn to be nice to Lavi. He did nothing to provoke you.''

''He called me by my first name.''

''Tiedoll does that too.''

''I don't let him do it either. It's not like I can get away with beating the old coot,'' Kanda huffed, eyes narrowing even more than they already were. ''Are we going to the next town or what?"

''Yeah, we are. Let's just level up a bit before we actually go out and experience more,'' Lenalee said. She had short black hair. One side had bobby pins up in it, showing off the skin underneath her side bangs while the other side was regular.

Before the group was about to leave a white haired figure ran past them, straight into Kanda. Before the person fell, their arms were outstretched and a shriek escaped their lips. They seemed to be in too much of a hurry to form words with their mouth seeing as the only thing that came out was a warning that happened to be a bit too late: ''Watch out!''.

Kanda's back collided with the ground as the person's face slammed into his chest. Compared to Kanda, the person was extremely small. Maybe female? Maybe it was the only first time that Lenalee and Lavi both needed in order to introduce Kanda to someone―specifically a woman. He was too much of a loner and almost had not become their friends. He still claims to not consider them both as his friends, but deep down they know that he has already accepted them no matter how idiotic they could be at times. Watching the two whom fell to the ground, they soon gained a lot of attention from the people within the town―people who were planning different things until they turned their attention to the couple on the floor.

A soft groan erupted from the person atop Kanda. They sat up, straddling his hips with their hands on his firm chest. ''I'm so, so, so, sooooo sorry! I swear I did not see you there! I didn't mean to knock into you are you okay?'' The person leaned down, worry glimmering within their silver eyes.

''I'm fine. Now get off.''

Once the whitette noticed the position they were in the person squirmed around in many attempts to get off, blushing bright red like a strawberry before finally rolling off. The person jumped to their feet and rushed off without another word. A blonde haired male quickly followed after the white haired person, shouting out the said person's name. It seemed that they were probably in a party and it might have been their first MMO, seeing not many people would play them nowadays, then again they would now thanks to the graphics and ability to use all senses while in the game without a single problem whatsoever. The male had a pony tail that seemed to be about shoulder-blade length and his hair was braided and tied at the end of it was a green colored ribbon. An odd color for someone with bright features. The whitette had a red ribbon in their hair. It seemed to be a bit hard to tell if the person was male or female. Not even Lenalee could figure out the gender―even if she wanted to or not. A simple glance at someone would have told her if someone were male or female, but this time it was different. Silence washed over the group before they headed out. As they reached the fields, Lenalee was the first to spill the beans (like always).

''So that was weird.''

''And you aren't. Your brother is a complete sis-con. You and everyone else know that. Okay back to whatever. What in the Hell do you guys need help with?"

''Skill activation.''

''Seriously. No matter how many times we've been through this you both are complete morons.''

''Well with the way you teach how do you expect us to learn?"

''Just shut up and pay attention,'' Kanda watched as Lavi made an attempt to throw a shit-ton of daggers at one of the wild boars that respawn just outside the town. He continued watching when Lavi was thrown back and his ass came in contact with the hard ground. Although they couldn't feel any pain, Lavi liked expressing himself.

''You can't feel pain, idiot.''

''Oh. Right. Thanks Yu-chan!''

''Don't use my first name,'' he grunted, watching as the boar's red eyes gleamed in the sunlight. ''Initial motion input is what you need to rely on. If you do it right and activate a sword skill,'' Kanda moved his hand backwards, the others watching as one of his basic skills lit his hand up with it's red light, and threw/thrusted the rock at the boar who squealed in 'pain', ''the system should ensure that the technique connects.''

The boar then charged at him, tusks and all. It was way too easy to dodge though. He removed his sword from it's sheath, placing it in between the boar's tusks to prevent any damage towards him before kicking the said boar straight towards Lavi who had been given enough time to take up some type of stance before his hand lit up and he soon sliced straight through the boar without a problem afterwards. Once Lavi turned around the said boar had already become pixels―something he'd also see in the future quite a lot. A large message appeared in front of the group:

Congratulations!

Lavi let out a long sigh before collapsing onto the ground. He had ended up taking a nap when he realized that the sun was already sinking low behind the clouds. Lenalee had gained some XP thanks to Kanda's help. Lavi and Lenalee were planning to have a sleep over and both started to logout, swiping in the air with their right hand like they were crazy. Lavi was the first to discover the problem with the game.

''There's no logout button.''

''Are you serious? That can't be!'' Lenalee looked over at him, sweating nervously before closing her eyes. A nervous smile crept up her face.

Kanda's attention switched over to the two. He watched as Lenalee checked her own menu and saw the same thing Lavi was seeing. He heard the Chinese woman call out his name in worry. It was like she was searching for some type of support from him. He had been playing games most of his life, hence why his grades were the best throughout his school. The Japanese male groaned at whatever Lenalee had been saying (he wasn't paying attention any longer) as he checked his own to see what all the fuss about the logout button was. The male tapped through all the menu's selections before reaching the settings button. He touched it and saw that the logout button surely was not there. It was very surprising to him, seeing as his body was paralyzed in the real world while his soul was trapped inside some stupid game. Kanda's now icy blue eyes flashed over to Lavi's emerald one. ''Maybe it's a bug. Did you contact the Game Master?"

The fiery red head flashed his menu at the older male with a serious look on his face, ''yeah but he's not picking up.''

''Shit. We'll just have to wait until someone comes along and takes the gear off our heads. But my sister is the only one who will notice other than Tiedoll. Tiedoll isn't even in the country at the moment. He's in India doing research. My sister ran off to kendo practice so I'd have to hope that she or my mother find me during dinner time.''

''The old Panda isn't gonna like this one bit. I bet he'll smack me once he sees me.''

Lenalee rolled her eyes at Lavi's comment, ''Komui will surely notice any moment and come to rip off the gear from my head. Ugh. I'd rather be stuck in a game than sit with him for an entire day. Last time that was horrible.''

''Last time? You mean your whole life,'' Lavi snickered.

''Yes, that,'' she replied.

The trio heard the sound of bells tolling, not far off. Probably in the town they had come from. In the next few seconds, the trio had been transported into a town they all had seen before, seeing as they were all beta testers. Kanda looked around to see almost every single player standing within the circle, now enclosed by a dome in which they could not escape.

''The Town of Beginnings?" Kanda asked, completely confused.

Many of the other people were confused as well. Most looked annoyed or pissed off. Maybe they were also planning on getting to the closest town before everyone else did. Others were still freaking out over the fact that they could not logout no matter how hard they tried―which they couldn't really.

''I didn't use a teleport item,'' Lavi spoke up as Lenalee clung to him in complete fear, hoping that she wouldn't pee her pants on the spot.

The dome in which surrounded people soon flashed with one message that happened to be the color red. Someone pointed it out saying: ''look'' and everyone's heads swivelled in the direction of the message before it spread across the dome, making the whole thing red with pix-elated symbols and black letters that made up the words: WARNING SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT. In caps all over. Now the people were frightened. Some tried banging against the dome's walls, but that did nothing to help them escape. Some stood in fear while others looked up to see what was the entire deal. The things that came from people's mouths were: ''What is this?", ''Turn me back!'', ''Screw this.'', and ''Let me go home.'' but nothing could help. Someone pointed upwards with their pointer finger, shouting out, ''What's that?"

This caught everyone's attention now―afraid or not―they all began to pay attention to the top of the dome which leaked something that seemed to be blood or a Jell-O-like substance. It appeared in the center of the dome. No one could see the person's face or anything. The figure had been formed. It was a person. Nothing more and nothing less.

''You cannot log out until you have cleared the hundredth floor of Aincrad. This floating castle. This might be a game, but it's not something you play. Welcome to my world, dear players. My name is Tyki Mikk. As of this moment, I am the only human being alive with control over this world.''

By then everyone had shut up and listened in complete silence to the things the creator had to say. The figure known as 'Tyki Mikk' went silent as if to let people calm down before the truth was thrown at them in their faces. ''You have likely noticed that the log-out button has disappeared from the Main Menu,'' he paused, opening up his own menu where he then opened up his settings to show everyone what it looked like when the logout button was removed before continuing what he was saying. ''This is not a bug. This is simply the way Sword Art Online was meant to be.''

Now the awkward silence was like a death sentence. Why would someone create a death game and throw people into it without thinking about the consequences when released from the game―if they would ever get released from the game. Something was telling him that it wouldn't be soon. It was telling him something bad would happen and he might not survive it in the end. The people who didn't seem to care, but were pissed, were likely the only ones who hadn't checked their own settings to see for themselves. They all thought it was probably some stupid joke or scare. Maybe they thought the person talking was some type of boss in a video game―the type you can't beat until you think up a good plan before jumping into the battle. How much proof did people need? The creator had just brought up his own menu to show that they could not escape―that they could not use the logout button. He had just shown them, yet they don't believe him.

''I repeat. This is not a bug―it is a feature of Sword Art Online,'' Tyki repeated with more warning in his voice's tone. It was like he was trying to get people to understand the facts. People nowadays were extremely stubborn.

''Why would one add a stupid 'feature' to a game―Tyki, what do you expect to gain out of this?" Kanda shouted above the clambering of everyone else's voices. The figure looked straight at him, sending shivers down his spine. Kanda Yu was shocked. Frozen in his spot.

The silent figure then continued with his own warning, ignoring Kanda's questions―those questions would have probably been hard for him to answer. He was the creator of other games even before The Beginning's project ( _ **A/N: Reference. Check out SAO: The Beginning's project**_ ) and now he was the creator of the game and that was it. Sure he helped on the Nerve Gear but that was about it. Nothing else. ''From this point onward, you will be unable to freely log out...until the summit of this castle is conquered. Furthermore, the Nerve Gear cannot be removed or shut down via external means. If such forceful means of exit are attempted, the high-powered microwaves emitted by the Nerve Gear...will scramble your brain and shut down your vital process.''

Lenalee covered her mouth as if she were about to vomit onto the pavement―they'd probably want her to vomit up rainbows rather than chunks of food that had not quite been digested yet.

''This isn't real, right Kanda?" Lavi asked, eyes wide.

''Well he isn't wrong there. They're the same electromagnetic waves a microwave uses. In theory it's possible, but it has to be a bluff. How much battery power would it need to destroy a human brain?'' He contemplated on the thought before speaking again, ''Actually it's got plenty. A third of the Nerve Gear's weight is the battery.''

Tyki continued, ''To be more specific and clear up any types of worries any of you have, your brain will not fry if you follow my rules: ten minutes of no external power, two hours of network disconnection, but any removal, dismantling, or destruction of the Nerve Gear will cause your brain to fry.''

''We cannot reach the outside world,'' a man with long white hair stepped forward, ''What if someone tries to remove our Nerve Gear without consent?''

The question was enough to get Tyki to answer: ''The authorities and media in the outside world have already announced the details of these conditions to the general public. At present, the friends and family of several players have ignored the warnings and attempted to forcefully remove their Nerve Gear, with the result that sadly, 215 players have already been permanently retired from both Aincrad and the real world. But there is no need to worry about your physical bodies. The current state of the game and today's fatalities have been covered far, and wide in the media. The two-hour offline leeway period should provide enough time for your physical bodies to be transported to hospitals and other long-term care facilities with proper security. Your main goal now in 'life' is to focus on conquering the game before you die.''

Their souls were literally trapped inside a game they had though was something they could all try out. Trapped because someone wanted to have fun playing _barbie dolls_ with humans rather than actual dolls.

''What do you mean? Conquer the game? You expect us to sit back and enjoy the game when we can't even logout? This is ridiculous. This isn't even a game anymore!'' Kanda screeched, hands already fisting at his sides.

''However, please proceed with caution. As of this moment Sword Art Online is no longer a game to you. It is another reality. The standard means of player resurrection will not function as they previously did. When your hit points dwindle to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted and the Nerve Gear will destroy your brain within the real world, resulting in you dying in both worlds.''

Kanda froze completely. His heart throbbed. He could already vision himself going up against someone strong only to have them slice him into pieces. He could see his body falling back, flung from the enemy's range, his body was about to hit then ground when the HP bar flew from a hundred to zero in one sweep―his body then burst into light blue, green, and into white pixels until they all disappeared and became another piece of the game due to the Cardinal's system.

 _Death_. Kanda thought. ― _It might be a game...but it's not something you play._

''Who's gonna venture out into the monster-filled wilderness! Knowing that you'd die? This is absolutely ridiculous!'' Someone from inside the crowd spat angrily. Kanda could tell by their tone of voice that they were frightened and very angry.

''There is only one condition in which you can be freed from the game. Simply reach the hundredth floor at the pinnacle of Aincrad and defeat the final boss that awaits you there. In that instant, all surviving players will be able to safely log out once again―as if it were a regular game―as if the button had never disappeared at all.''

''Clear the hundredth floor? We can't possibly do that! I heard that all groups of beta and alpha testers barely got through the very start of the game!" Whoever kept talking seemed to have a big mouth.

Kanda knew he could not go back until he defeated the game, allowing everyone else to logout.

 **-X-x Flashback x-X-**

 _Kanda sat alone in the kitchen. He had a few bags under his eyes but they did not stop him from staying up late at night so he could play nothing other than famous MMO's for as long as long as he could until he was forced out of his room by his sister and mother for something he found unnecessary sometimes. He returned to reality when he heard his sister's humming as she entered the room. She was supposed to knock, but didn't. She sat down in her spot, smiling until she saw that her brother still had not touched his food which she made for him. A frown appeared on her face. The only word Kanda could use was pure disappointment for the look on his sister's face, then again he didn't care much. He wasn't really hungry at the moment. She was concerned for his health and yet disappointed because he wouldn't eat much of what she made so the fridge was almost always full of untouched food._

 _Kanda poked at his breakfast with a chopstick, frowning at how good the food looked. Then again it didn't matter about looks―most of the time the food that she always made didn't taste as good as he wished it would. It would sometimes turn out crappy whatsoever._

'' _Are you going to eat it?" She asked while avoiding eye contact with him and his icy glares._

 _The Japanese male shifted uncomfortably in the chair he was sitting in. He partially hated it when people watched him eat. It was creepy―especially when his little sister was watching him eat. It freaked him out a little at how she observed him eat but she denied the fact that he said she was the creepy type of person who would watch people eat, satisfied. The male thanked her for the food before throwing it into the trash. From a young age he had learned not to eat anything she made which is why he'd always have to help her make food. He quickly grabbed the nearest thing―an apple then speed walked out of the kitchen, with his sister hot on his trail, and into the hallway, up the stairs, hallway again, then to his room. He closed and locked his door so she wouldn't think about forcing her food into his mouth after what happened one time. Kanda took a bite out of the red apple then hopped into his black office chair which was located in front of his desk that contained the same three monitors which all greeted him every morning. All three screens were black until he poked the mouse with an index finger._

 **-X-x End of flashback x-X-**

People began shouting out insults as popular media websites, videos, and pictures began floating around Tyki's body. Some thought that him making his own appearance was probably for some type of grand opening or for something like a town boss, but, oh how they were wrong about that. Things were being shouted from the crowd: ''R-right...it's just a programmed event for the grand opening.'', ''Yeah! Let us go!", ''We can't tell what's going on outside from here!'', ''Show us proof you're the real developer!'', ''Yeah! It's not like we'll actually die!''

All Kanda wanted the stupid people in the crowd to shut up and actually listen to what Tyki was trying to say instead of having intervals where he'd talk and the crowd of people would flip shit just because of something. In the beginning they had all shut up, but now they were all frightened and would not listen. It was probably like talking to a brick wall.

''I have already shown you that this world is now your one and only reality,'' Tyki said.

''The Nerve Gear's got those transmitters all over the underside of the helmet, including the part that covers your face. So not only can it read your brain, it also recreate your facial details. I think he's the real Mikk,'' Lavi explained as Lenalee slowly began to detach herself from the said male.

'Wait a sec, when I first set up the Nerve Gear, it made me touch all the parts of my body. Is that how it gets to know our height and stuff?" Lenalee asked.

Kanda huffed, ''Sounds about right.''

''If you'd all check your inventory I have a present for you,'' Tyki explained.

The sounds of people checking their inventories echoed throughout the dome down to the last person opening it. Flashes of blue filled the dome as the people looked into the mirrors.

''Kanda!'' Lenalee called out.

Once the light vanished, everyone was left with their real appearances. People within the crowds were disappointed that the people they thought were females turned out to be males. Kanda had his same blue hair, but now he had the rest of his features which he didn't have when using the Cardinal made avatar that had been picked out for him. Everyone's true identities were left out in the open. Tyki probably thought most of it was amusing for some part, but who knew what his true intentions were?

''Welcome to Sword Art Online, you three hundred thousand players! Be sure to clear the game!" Was all Tyki said before disappearing the same way he had come.

The dome quickly disappeared in the blink of an eye. Kanda was the only one who ran out of the town, tailed by both his friends. He popped up his menu within an alley, showing them the quickest route to getting to the next town, but Lavi and Lenalee looked a bit worried as they stared into each other's eyes. They reluctantly and stubbornly claimed that they wanted to stay with Kanda, but the blue haired male said how he was solo. All three of them knew that it was true yet they could not leave each other. They'd need as many people as they could get in order to clear the game.

That was when they left for the next town.

 **XXX**

 _ **A/N: God that was a pain to type. I typed most of it on Monday and the rest on Tuesday because I was tired and needed to sleep, keh. I was tired dun judge. Also I do apologize for not quickly updating as much. I'll probably try my best to keep this Fanfiction as lengthy as possible. This is the first and last 6,000 worded Fanfiction you'll see in my stories/chapters.**_

 _ **Can you guess who it was that ran into Kanda? It's a bit too obvious.**_


End file.
